


The Same Story, A Different Journey

by RDJ_luvet



Series: The Same Story, A Different Journey [1]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst, Daryl Needs To Use His Words, Daryl Needs a Hug, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Hurt Daryl, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, M/M, au-ish, rick will hug him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-21
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-28 05:31:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6316537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RDJ_luvet/pseuds/RDJ_luvet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Daryl and Rick were married before the apocalypse? In which Carl is the son of Lori and Shane who were dating since high school but then also got married. This is the same story, but a different journey. </p><p> </p><p>(That sounded way more poetic than I was expecting)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Days Gone Bye

~~~~~

Rick and Shane were sitting in their car and Shane was ranting about women and light switches, "so, how are things with Daryl?" Shane asks him when he's finished the 'sermon'.

"It's good, he's good, he's good at turning off lights, really good, I'm the one who sometimes forgets" he thinks about leaving it there, but decides to communicate, because that's what he's trying to get Daryl to learn how to do.

"We didn't have a great night" he says. He's told Shane about past arguments so he has a pretty good idea what this one was most likely about, "I might've failed to amuse you with my sermon, but I did try. You've gotta teach him how to speak." Shane tells him. 

Rick sighs "I'm trying, that's what I told him last night, 'speak.... Speak' I swear he's the most closed mouth man I've ever met" Shane tells him the same thing he's been telling him for the past couple weeks "you gotta get him to express his thoughts. Share his feelings, that kinda stuff".

Rick thinks for a moment "Every time I try to tell him, everything I say, seems to pass right over him, it's like he's not even hearing me, like he's closed off to everything" his voice cracks a bit on the last line.

Shane looks at him for a moment deciding what to say to his friend, "I'd tell you this was just shit all couples go through, that it's just a phase, but you know that Daryl's just not any other guy" he says and Rick does know that Daryl's not just any other guy, he's got scars, both physical and mental.

Rick breathes for a moment "sometimes I just feel so useless, like I'm not enough for him, I'm not able to help him even though I know I should be" Shane is about to reply when a call comes in through their radio.

~~~~~

The first thing Rick thinks when he feels the bullet pierce his skin, is 'man, Daryl is gonna kill me'.

He's just telling Shane to never let Daryl know what just happened, when he hears the second shot.

As he's lying on the grass watching Shane become more and more blurry, all he can think about is how pretty Daryl's eyes are in the morning when they just woke up and the sun is shining on him at the perfect angle.

~~~~~

When he's lying in his half aware state listening drowsily to Shane talk, he thinks about Daryl, he knows that Daryl hates the hospital with every fibre of his being and he knows that he'd refuse to come more than he had to, Rick knows he's been here at least once, because he remembers the feeling of lips on his forehead and the strength of a calloused hand holding his.

~~~~~

As he comes to telling a story about his childhood he realizes that he's alone, and then he notices the flowers and the clock. 

 

~~~~~

When he exits the hospital all he can think about while walking through the piles of body is Daryl, he doesn't suspect any of the bodies belong to Daryl because he's never had any problem spotting out Daryl in a crowd. And he just really doesn't want his thoughts to go there.

~~~~~

He takes the bike with the one sole purpose of going home, of going to Daryl. 

"Daryl. Daryl! DARYL?! DARYL!!" He starts going through the house screaming for his lover before breaking down on the floor.

He goes outside and collapses on the stair steps, somebody hits him in the head with what seems like a shovel, and when he's about to pass out he mumbles out for Daryl one last time.

~~~~~

Rick wakes up handcuffed to a bed by what at first he figures is a crazy man with a boy.

It turns out they're quite nice.

Later that night they're sitting in the living room about to go to bed, "Daryl- who is he? You said his name today" Morgan asks him, "he's my husband, my everything" Rick tells him.

Morgan hesitates before asking the question Rick was dreading "he's alive?" Rick sighs, "I hope so" 

"Did you have any kids?" Morgan asks him. Rick chuckles a bit "kinda, I have a nephew of sorts, his parents are my best friends" he tells him remembering the boy with bright blue eyes, not unlike his own, who never failed to put a smile on his face.

Their conversation turns light for a bit before a car alarm goes off, when he realizes that the 'walker' on the porch is Morgan's wife, it makes him really consider the possibility that Daryl might not have made it. He quickly puts those thoughts away.

~~~~~

"He's alive, I know it, he's alive" Rick says when they enter his and Daryl's old house. Morgan gives him a questioning look "how do you know?" He asks.

"There's empty drawers in the bedroom" he tells Morgan, "you realize anyone could've broken in and stole clothes right?" Morgan asks him like he's crazy. "I know, there was a photo, this one picture, it was our favourite, it's gone, you're gonna tell me that some random person took that photo?" Rick justifies thinking back to the picture that Lori took of them without them knowing, smiling into each others eyes the day after their wedding.

Morgan starts laughing, "my wife would've done the same thing, I'm here packing survival gear, she packing photo albums" he watches as Morgan gets lost in his memory.

Just before they leave Rick goes into the closet in their old bedroom and opens up the chest that once housed Daryl's crossbow, he finds it blessedly empty, he knows that Daryl can survive if he has his crossbow, there's no longer that raging doubt in Ricks head that his husband isn't out there somewhere.

When he grabs the key to the police station, he also notes that Daryl's motorcycle keys are missing.

~~~~~

When Rick shoots the walker lying on the ground with no legs, he thinks that Daryl would be proud of him, every time that Daryl took him hunting with him, he watched as right before Daryl gave the killing shot, he whispered 'I'm sorry that this happened to you' under his breath.

That's exactly what Rick did right before he killed the walker, he whispered "I'm sorry this happened to you" under his breath before pulling the trigger.

Daryl was the one who truly showed Rick how precious all life was.

~~~~~

Right before Rick gets out of the car, he pulls down the sun visor where he kept his copy of their favourite photo, he looks at Daryl's smiling face before tucking the photo into his pocket.

~~~~~

As Rick approaches the horse, he tries to mimic what he's seen Daryl do, talk to the animal like any other thing, and keep talking to it to keep it calm. And it works.

~~~~~

When Rick gets trapped in the tank, he thinks that this is it, this is where it ends, that he's never going to get to see Daryl ever again, he'll never get to hear Daryl's voice ever again. 

"Hey you. Dumbass. Hey, you in the tank. Cozy in there?"


	2. Guts

"Hey! You alive in there?"

Rick rushed to the radio, hitting his head in the process, he quickly picked it up, "Hello? Hello?"

"Ah, there you are, you had me wondering"

"Where are you? Outside? Can you see me right now?"

"Yeah, I can see you, you're surrounded by walkers, that's the bad news"

"There's good news?"

There's a pause, "no"

"Listen, whoever you are, I'm a little concerned in here"

"Oh man, you should see it from over here, you'd be having a major freak-out"

"Got any advice for me?"

"Yeah, I'd say make a run for it"

Rick forces back the sarcastic motion that wanted to escape his body, he thought that Daryl and this guy would get along fine, remembering the times when Daryl would get these moods where he was as unhelpful as ever.

"That's it? Make a run for it?"

"My way's not as dumb as it sounds, you've got eyes on the outside here. There's one geek still up on the tank but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horse went down. With me so far?"

"So far"

"Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you move now while they're distracted, you stand a chance. Got ammo?"

In that duffel bag I dropped out there, and guns. Can I get to it?"

"Forget the bag, okay? It's not an option. What do you have on you?"

"Hang on"

~~~~~

When Rick was pulled inside the door, the last thing he would've expected was a gun shoved in his face. The first thing Rick thought was that Daryl would get a kick outta her.

He listens to her tell her tell him that they're all dead because of him, what? 

"I don't understand" he tells her. Another man grabs his arm and leads him to another room, chatting along the way, "look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies. You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving! You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the O.K. corral"

"Every geek for miles around heard you popping off rounds." Another man says from behind him

"You just rang the dinner bell" the women, Andrea? Clarified for him as he looked out glass doors at a huge mass of walkers banging on the slowly breaking glass.

He hears shots coming from the roof, and in all the chaos he hears one sentence 'is that Dixon?'. As they rush up the stairs Rick confusedly following, mumbling under his breath the whole way "Dixon?".

When they enter the roof and he sees Merle Dixon, Daryl's older brother, he doesn't know if he's more relieved or dreadful. 

Daryl had always been close with his brother, but when he found out about his and Rick's relationship... He hadn't been too thrilled, when he caught them kissing, he'd walked straight up to Rick and punched him square in the face, shouting at him to leave his baby brother alone, that was the last time they had seen him.

They had invited him to the wedding of course, but he never showed, they weren't positive that he even got the invitation. 

As Rick was caught up in his own world Merle had started an argument with another man, T-Dog? He was shouting the most horrible racist things at him, when it got physical Rick rushed in and got punched in the face and thrown aside by the force, as he pushed himself up dizzily he couldn't help but think 'same old Merle Dixon'.

He didn't think that Merle even recognized him yet, too busy spitting on the man.

When Merle stood up and was saying something about making him in charge, Rick hit him with the gun and quickly handcuffed him to a pipe.

"Who the hell are you man?!" Merle yelled at him, Rick just said "officer friendly" and watched as recognition surfaced in the older Dixon's face. That had been Merle's favourite nickname for him before he found out exactly what was going on between Rick and Daryl.

Rick started by telling him that they were all just meat, but when he said the part about them pulling together Merle flipped out and tried to hit him again, "ain't no way I'm gonna be 'pullin together' with the faggot that took my baby brother! You fuckin corrupted him! Well I got him back, officer friendly, he don' belong to you no more, he's a Dixon" he then spit at Rick but it landed just short of his shoe.

Rick brushed off the attack, and crouched down near the once again settled Dixon, "where's Daryl?" He asked him.

Merle never replied but the wonan Andrea did "Daryl? Daryl Dixon? You know him?"

Rick looked up at her and nodded "yeah, where is he? Is he ok?" He asked worriedly, he stood back up and left the now eerily calm man.

Andrea nodded, "yeah, he's fine, he's back at camp". He let out a relieved breath "thank God"

He walks over to the ledge, and thinks about how soon it could be that he sees his beautiful husband again. 

He hears someone approaching, it's Morales, "so, how do you know the Dixon's?" Rick sighs "I'm married to one of them" he says rotating his ring around his finger. Morales snort "no way! Daryl?! I would've never thought of him as the marrying type, much less...." He trails off but Rick gets the message that hangs in the air.

He doesn't know what side of Daryl they know but he knows the true Daryl Dixon "he's not like his brother" he says finally "he's so much better. Stronger" he says. 

Morales smiles, "I'm sure of that" he says, even if it's a little uncertain.

~~~~~

They've decided that they're going to try and use the sewers, while Glenn and Morales head down, he and Andrea go back out to the main room, she apologizes for the gun in his face and he promises to get them out of this mess. They're quiet for a few more seconds.

"Hey, what Merle said, about the corrupting his brother and stuff, what was that about?" She asks him. He knew this was coming, "I'm married to Daryl, Merle has never been the most open minded person, as you can probably tell" he says simply. She nods in understanding no doubt trying to picture Daryl as a married man. 

They start a friendly chat about guns and he shows her how to use the safety.

~~~~~

While Rick walks down the street covered in guts and blood, thinking about how he used to find Daryl cleaning a deer or rabbit out disgusting. Well if only Daryl could see him now, he'd probably laugh at him.

~~~~~

Later when T-Dog tells them that he dropped the key, Rick knows that that will cause problems with Daryl, how could it not? That was his brother. Rick was curious to find out how Merle and Daryl got back together and found a group, he distantly wondered if Shane was with him or not.

It made him step on the gas a touch harder, he couldn't wait to hold the love of his life in his arms again.


	3. Tell It To The Frogs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How will Daryl react when he sees that Rick is alive?

"Best not to dwell on it. Merle got left behind" Morales tells him "nobody's gonna be sad he didn't come back.... Except...." He left it hanging in the air but Rick knew exactly who he was talking about.

He knew this wouldn't be easy for Daryl, and now that he was really thinking about it, Daryl might not ever forgive him. 

Rick looks at him and turns back to the road "I know" he says simply.

They watch as Glenn passes them and he remembers the times when he and Daryl would race down old deserted roads, Daryl on his bike, Rick in his old pick up. Daryl always beat him.

"At least someone's having a good day" Morales tells him.

~~~~~

As Rick pulls the truck up to camp, he's on the edge of his seat the whole time, when they all get out he sits there for a moment to breathe, who knows what Daryl's reaction will be?

He starts to walk up the path, he hears "uncle Rick!" Before something crashes against his legs. He picks the boy up and settles him against his hip.

Next he hugs Lori and then Shane. He puts Carl down Where's Daryl? He asks first, Lori and Shane just give each other a glance. "What? What's wrong? Is he hurt?" Rick asks at their silence.

Shane wraps an arm around his shoulder, "no man, Daryl's fine, he's off hunting right now, he should be back tomorrow, c'mon, it's almost dark, let's start a fire and explain." Rick just nods, "ok".

~~~~~

"Disoriented..." He tells them the story of when he woke up, Carl is on his lap, he refused to leave his side ever since he came back, that was ok, he just hoped his husband could be as forgiving. 

When he's finished his story he immediately asks the question that's been weighing on his mind, "What's wrong with Daryl?" 

Shane takes a deep breath before turning towards Rick, "Man, you know how he is, thinking you were dead.... It just destroyed him, somehow he got caught up with Merle again-" "I seen that" Rick interrupts, "yeah, you did, well, let's just say that Daryl turned in to a smaller, less angry Merle Dixon, not as cruel either, but nonetheless a miniature Merle Dixon" Shane tells him. 

If that's not a kick to the gut he doesn't know what is, it sounded as though Daryl went back to the way he was when they first met, erratic, that was the best way to describe him all those years ago. 

~~~~~

Shane leads him to Daryl's tent, he's not surprised that it's away from the others, but it's even away from Merle's, which is surprising.

He opens the zipper and goes in, the whole thing shouts Daryl, there's arrows in the middle of being made in a corner, a make shift bed on one side, right by the window he notes, Daryl always needed to be the closest to the window so he could look outside. 

There's a bunch of random stuff strewn around in seemingly no order, but Rick sees the order in Daryl chaos (in more ways than one).

He lies down on the bed and buries his face in his hunters pillow, it smells like him. He feels something under the pillow and reaches under it to pull out the knife that's shoved there, but he feels something else too.

He pulls out there favourite photo and smiles to himself, it doesn't matter what anybody else said, this confirmed that his husband was still here.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his own photo, looking at the captured picture for a moment before putting them both back under the pillow.

He strips down to his boxers and goes to sleep surrounded by his Daryl.

~~~~~

When he wakes up the first thing he thinks is 'today's the day I get to see Daryl'.

He changes into the clothes that somebody left out for him and goes to find Lori. 

"How'd you sleep?" She asks him, Rick smiles "better than I have in a long time". They're silent for a few more seconds.

"I need to go get Merle, Daryl's never gonna forgive me if I don't try" he tells her honestly.

"Rick that's crazy, you're gonna get Daryl back, just leave it alone, if he wants to go back and look for Merle, then you can start thinking about it-" she gets cut off by a scream in the distance.

They start running towards the shouts, someone throws him a metal pole.

When he sees the walker eating the deer, he also sees the many arrows sticking out of the creature, that must mean that Daryl's close.

And then the bushes rustle and out steps his husband, Daryl doesn't see him at first and he watches as he gets upset about the deer.

Rick notes the tone in his voice, he sounds more like his brother than Rick ever expected. 

Daryl shoots the walker in the head, perfect shot, but Rick wouldn't of expected anything less.

"Don't y'all know noth-" and then he sees Rick. Daryl looks at him with those bright blue eyes, and Rick immediately sees the fear, the longing, and the love. Even when Daryl could never express his feeling, his eyes never failed to.

"Daryl-" he starts to say but cuts himself off when he sees what else is buried below the surface. Anger. 

Daryl looks around, most likely seeing all the people watching him, "where's Merle?" He asks looking for the person that he feels could provide him the most comfort, Rick longs for the days when that used to be him.

Somebody (Rick's not paying attention to who) quickly explains the story and that's when Rick's watches the hurt register in those blue eyes.

He doesn't notice when Lori gets everyone to leave, leaving only Rick and Daryl in the clearing. 

Daryl throws his squirrels at him and that's when the walls crack, he starts to yell/sob, not really saying anything, just saying words that have no meaning, then he attacks Rick, not trying to hurt him but just grips his shirt. Rick wraps his arms around the shaking man.

They end up falling down but Rick continues to hold him while Daryl whispers "you were gone. You left me. You were gone." Over and over into Rick's neck.

Rick just keeps rubbing his back and pressing kisses to his hair, whispering back, "I'm here now, I'll never leave you again".

He's not sure how long they lie there in the dirt, but eventually the sobs stop and Daryl stops shaking. Rick's sits up and so does Daryl until they're sitting cross legged side by side.

They just look into each other's eyes until Daryl gets uncomfortable and looks away and starts to fiddle with a nearby arrow.

"I love you" Rick tells him then. Daryl meets his eyes once again and whispers back "I love you" before looking away again.

Rick knows they have a long way to go before he earns back Daryl's full trust, but it's a start.

~~~~~

When they stand up, Rick takes his hand and tangles their fingers together. But when they're back at camp Daryl drops his hand, he's never been comfortable with PDA, but that's ok.

They walk straight through all the states and go straight to the tent.

Rick tells him the whole, detailed story about what happened at Atlanta, when he's finished they sit in silence for a moment.

"We gotta go get em Rick" Daryl tells him, and Rick's nods in understanding "we will, today".

~~~~~

Rick makes the deal with Dale and Jim, and hears the truck horn honk, he suppresses the urge to chuckle, Daryl was still the same impatient, annoying but charming man.

After his talk with Shane, he says his goodbye to Carl and Lori and climbs into the truck beside Glenn. 

He turns to look back at Daryl "ready?". Daryl looks back at him and holds eye contact for a second "ready".

~~~~~

They climb out of the truck and jog down the train tracks, the whole time Daryl is a constant presence at his side.

They come to a fence and cut it, Rick notices that Daryl hasn't gone more than a few feet away from him. But he has to ask the question.

"Merle or guns first?" He asks Glenn, "Merle!" Daryl says immediately, Glenn nods "Merle's closest, the guns would mean doubling back. Merle first."

~~~~~

They enter the building and he signals to Daryl about the walker up ahead, he watches Daryl make a smart ass comment before shooting it perfectly in the eye. He nods his approval.

They run up the stairs and Rick can tell that Daryl is getting antsy. They cut the padlock and Daryl rushes in, but only to find that Merle is gone.

Rick sighs to himself watching Daryl pace like a caged animal, shouting "no! No!". He needed to get his man out of his own head.

He quickly wrapped his arms around Daryl from behind. He and Daryl were gonna have one hell of a journey, that much was for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This episode was really interesting to write, I wasn't sure at first how I could make the reunion as special as it needed to be, so I ended up writing and deleting what I wrote for over an hour until I decided on what I could do.
> 
>  
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy, please give me any feedback you might have, whether it's something I could change or something I should add or maybe something I should take away. Please let me know


	4. Vatos

When Daryl stopped trying to break free of Rick's hold and calmed down, Rick let him go, but not before he pressed a kiss to the back of Daryl's head.

When Daryl picked up his crossbow and pointed it at T-Dog, Rick jumped in between with his hands up, trying to get the wild look out of Daryl's eyes. 

"Please Daryl, calm down baby" Rick pleaded, eventually Daryl lowered the crossbow.

"Oh gosh Daryl" Rick mumbles under his breath when Daryl asks T-Dog for his cloth and goes and wraps up Merle's rotten hand.

Rick almost laughs at Glenn's face when Daryl puts the hand in his backpack.

They all follow Daryl down the stairs to try and find Merle. Rick watching the tense muscles of Daryl's back the whole time, itching to reach out to him, but he can't, Daryl wouldn't react kindly to it.

"Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer he'd crap out nails" Daryl talks while reloading and Rick tells him what's he's told him before "he's not as tough as you".

Daryl laughs it off and keeps going. Rick didn't expect much else, Daryl was still uncomfortable when receiving compliments. But that didn't stop Rick from giving them. 

They follow the trail of blood, Daryl shouting out for Merle, regardless of the risk. 

Daryl decides that he's going to go out by himself and find Merle. Rick pushes Daryl back with a hand on his chest, "Daryl, wait." He immediately regrets it when he sees Daryl flinch. 

"Get your hands off me!" Daryl shouts at him. Rick holds his ground, he doesn't want to lose Daryl again, he can't let him slip away.

"I don't blame you, he's family, I get that." He pauses "I went through hell to find mine" he says "you're my family, I can't let you go, I just got you back" his voice cracks on the last word.

Rick watches as his words register in Daryl's head until he finally nods "okay" he says.

They make a plan to get the guns so then they can look around a couple blocks for Merle.

When Glenn tells him that he and Daryl have to split up, he gets nervous, he turns to Daryl "you ok with that?" Daryl nods and shrugs. Rick assumes that's the only answer he's gonna get.

~~~~~

Rick is waiting with T-Dog when he hears "AYUDAME! AYUDAME!" Come from the direction of Daryl. He immediately runs towards his husband.

He gets there just as Daryl goes to hit some guy. Rick crowds Daryl back, talking over his shouting "woah woah woah, stop it!" He listens to what Daryl is saying, "They took Glenn! This little bastard and his little bastard friends!" 

Rick continues to try and soothe his lover until he calms down.

They realize they're cut off so they run back to the ladder, Rick staying between Daryl and the other guy the whole time. 

~~~~~

He has to pull Daryl off of the guy two other times, he rolls his eyes with fondness when Daryl throws Merle's hand at the guy. 

His husband is quite the charmer.

~~~~~

They go to the place where they're holding Glenn, and Rick has to bite his tongue a few times when the guys keep referring to Daryl as redneck or hillbilly.

"Who's that dude to you anyway? You don't look related." The guy who opened the door asks him. Rick doesn't want them to know how important Daryl is, for obvious reasons, "he's one of our group, more or less" Rick tells him.

~~~~~

"Those guns are worth more than hold. Gold won't protect us or put food on the table. You willing to give that up for that kid?" Daryl asks him later when they're packing to go back and get Glenn. Rick just looks at him, Daryl already knows that Rick would protect Glenn.

"If I knew we'd get Glenn back, I might agree. But you think that Vato across the way is just gonna hand him over?" T-Dog asks him next.

The idiot kid decides to join in then, "You calling G a liar?". Rick watches with a small smile as Daryl goes over and lightly tap the guy in the head "are you a part of this?" 

Daryl turns back to Rick "are you willing to bet on that guys word? Could be more than the guns, could be your life. Glenn worth that to you?" He asks the last part with such insecurity it makes Rick stop what he was doing. 

He looks into Daryl's eyes "what life I have I owe to him. I was nobody to Glenn. Just some idiot stuck in a tank. He could've walked away, but he didn't. Neither will I."

Daryl starts to fidget "but you're gonna hand the guns over?" He asks Rick. "I didn't say that" Rick says "There's nothing keeping you two here. You should get out, head back to camp." Rick knew it was a lost cause as soon as he said it, Daryl was way too loyal for his own good.

"If you think I'm doin that, then you don't know me as well as I thought" Daryl tells him with a smirk that lets Rick know that he's coming with him and here's nothing he can do to stop him.

He watches as Daryl loads the gun with amazing competence, his arms flexing with every movement. Rick shakes his head before his mind can travel farther down that road. He's suddenly hit with the fact that he hasn't seen Daryl (actually seen him) since two days before he got shot.

He'd have to do something about that very soon, but not right now he decides.

~~~~~

"Well that didn't go like I expected" he says to Daryl when they leave the building. Daryl grins at him and nudges their shoulders together. 

~~~~~

"Admit it, you only came back to Atlanta for the hat" Glenn tells him when they're heading back to the truck.

"Daryl think's the hat is sexy" he answers just for the satisfaction of watching Daryl's face turn pink. He used to try to embarrass Daryl any chance he got. So why should he stop just because the world has ended?

~~~~~

They rush towards the camp when they hear the screaming, while they're shooting the walkers, he makes sure to keep Daryl right at his side, because that's where he belongs.

When the shooting stops he makes his way over to Lori, Shane and Carl, making sure they're all ok.

Yeah, it was going to be one hell of a journey, but they would make it as long as he had Daryl at his side.


	5. Wildfire

"Morgan, I don't know if you're out there. I don't know if you can hear me. Maybe you're listening right now. I hope so. 

"I found others- my family, if you can believe it. My husband, my friends, they're alive. I wanted you to know that. 

"There's something else you need to know, Atlanta isn't what we thought. It's not what they promised. The city is- do not enter the city. It belongs to the dead now. 

"We're camped a few miles Northwest, up by a big abandoned rock quarry. You can see it on a map. 

"I hope you come find us. But be careful. Last night walkers came out of the woods.... We lost people. 

"Watch yourself, Morgan. Take care of your boy. I'll try again tomorrow at dawn."

~~~~~

As Rick is walking up the path towards camp, he grimaces as he sees Daryl stab a body in the head with what looks like a pick axe of some sort.

He and Daryl never got to sleep last night, they were too full of nerves and they had to stay on alert.

"She still won't move?" Rick asks as he comes to stand beside Shane and Dale. 

"She won't even talk to us. She's been there all night. What do we do?" Lori asks him. 

"We can't just leave Amy like that. We need to deal with it, same as the others." He listens as Shane answers "I'll tell her how it is." Rick tells them. 

He walks over to where Andrea is sitting with Amy's body, "Andrea-" before he can say anything else or sit, Andrea pulls a gun on him. 

"I know how the safety works." She tells him. Rick straightens back up "all right. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He tells her as he backs away before it can get worse.

Daryl comes to stand beside him "good job officer, you really have a way with words." He mumbles into Ricks ear.

Rick turns a disapproving look at him and pokes him in the ribs, Daryl pouts at him but gets the message and goes back to getting rid of the bodies. Mumbling "you're no fun" under his breath.

~~~~~

"Y'all can't be serious." Daryl is saying, Rick notices that he lets his words jumble together more when he's talking to others, Rick suspects it's because he's still not comfortable with them.

"Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb." Daryl finishes. Rick looks at him "what do you suggest?" He asks coaxing his lover to express his thoughts.

Daryl looks back at him and Rick can pinpoint the exact moment that the hunger within Daryl takes over "take the shot. Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance-"

"No." Lori cuts him off and Rick forces himself not to sigh, he loves Lori like a sister, but Daryl was finally saying more than a few words at a time in front of the others, even if they weren't exactly the nicest words, they were still words. But he lets Lori continue nonetheless. 

"For God's sakes, let her be." Everybody goes silent for a few moments until Daryl scoffs and walks away, seemingly finished with the discussion.

~~~~~

When Rick watches as Jim falls apart repeating that he's okay, Rick is struck with the idea of how easy it is to lose someone, how fast it can happen, he makes a mental note to check every inch of Daryl over to make sure for himself that he's fine.

Rick reaches over to where Daryl is standing beside him and takes his hand in his. He watches as Daryl blushes and looks around at all the people surrounding them, he doesn't resist when Daryl pulls his hand out of Rick's, but he does squeeze his fingers once more before letting him go.

He understands why Daryl is like that, but sometimes it gets frustrating when his husband can't show affection, even when they're alone it happens, not often, but it does happen.

He wonders if that will ever change, if it will take the world ending to bring Daryl out of his shell.

~~~~~

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head, and the dead girl's and be done with it." Daryl says when they're gathered in a group. Rick agrees with him, but in a nicer way, he knows they have to do it at some point, the difference with Daryl is that he doesn't know why they should wait, he thinks they should do it now.

"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane asks Daryl. "Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it." Daryl says without hesitation.

"I hate to say it- never thought I would- but maybe Daryl's right." Dale says, Rick feels he should speak his piece now before it gets too far.

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." He says that last part for Daryl, knowing he'd understand that more.

"I'm not suggesting-" Dale tries to say but Rick talks over him "He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?"

"The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be" Daryl interrupts him. Rick finds a way to meet both opinions in the middle. "What if we can get him help? I heard the C.D.C. was working on a cure." Ricks tells them.

"I heard that too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell." Shane says.

"What if the C.D.C. is still up and running?" Rick tries to reason. "Man, that is a stretch right there." Shane says, ever the supporter. 

"Why?" Ricks asks "If there's any Government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the C.D.C. at all costs, wouldn't they? I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection-" Shane cuts Rick off again. 

"Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning." "That's 100 miles in the opposite direction." Lori tells Shane.

"That is right. But it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there." Shane tells them. 

"The military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We've all seen that. The C.D.C. is our best choice and Jim's only chance." 

Rick looks to Daryl after he's done speaking, he watches Daryl nod to himself "you go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do. Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!" Daryl yells as he goes to stab Jim.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Rick says as he runs up behind him and grabs the axe out of Daryl's hands "Daryl! We don't kill the living." He tells him. 

Daryl just looks at him before storming away, mad.

Rick sighs to himself before helping Jim up.

~~~~~

"Say it" Rick tells Shane when they're digging graves. 

"Okay. I'm thinking if you'd have stayed here, if you'd have looked after your own-" Rick cuts him off "Daryl is my own, I was looking after him" he says.

Shane sighs "okay. But you took half our manpower with you. I'm thinking maybe our losses wouldn't have been so bad."

"If we hadn't gone off and brought those guns back when we did, I think our losses would have been a lot worse. Maybe the entire camp."

He and Shane go back to digging while Daryl pulls the truck up and gets out.

"I still think it's a mistake not burning these bodies. It's what we said we'd do, right? Burn 'em all, wasn't that the idea?" Daryl asks as he walks up to them.

Before Rick can reply, Shane beats him to it "at first" Shane says.

"So, the chinaman gets all emotional, says it's not the thing to do, we just follow him along?" Daryl asks.

Rick knows that Daryl is trying to do what he thinks is best for the group, he knows digging takes up too much time and effort. But Daryl doesn't exactly approach touchy subjects like these gently.

"These people need to know who the hell's in charge here, what the rules are." Daryl continues but Rick cuts him off trying to put it in a way Daryl will understand; bluntly. "There are no rules" Rick tells him.

"Well, that's a problem." Lori says when she comes "we haven't had one minute to hold onto anything of our old selves. We need time to mourn and we need to bury our dead. It's what people do."

Rick can see that this got through Daryl's thick walls better than anything else, so they let the conversation drop and continue digging.

~~~~~

Rick watches Daryl as he watches Andrea lower Amy into the ground. Rick takes the opportunity to step closer to him and wrap an arm around his waist.

Daryl looks at him before looking back at Andrea, he seems ok with letting Rick hold him like this for now. So Rick does.

~~~~~

"I'll tell you what, man," Rick and Shane are walking through the woods doing their sweep when Shane pipes up. "These people, man, they're not convinced. You know? You head to the C.D.C., you might be on your own, you might have Daryl, but you gotta really consider whether you want to put him in that kind of spot."

Rick listens patiently "I got to do what's best for my family. What's best for Daryl"

Shane smiles a bit "best for your family? What's that? Exposing him to all kinds of risks?" 

"As opposed to what? Crossing 100 miles of hostile territory? If we're looking for a lifeline, I say swim toward the closest ship, not further out to sea..... Why can't you back me up?" Rick asks.

"Look, I want to. It's just.... I don't see it." Shane says.

"Think about Lori and Carl. Your family. Maybe then you'd feel differently." Rick says without thinking. 

Shane stops walking "what did you say to me? I kept my family safe, man. I looked after them, Daryl too. That's what I did."

"I didn't mean it that way." Rick tries to take it back. "Well how'd you mean it? Go on, man. How'd you mean it?"

Rick sighs "you're misinterpreting me. You're just hearing me wrong. Look, you know, you know I can never repay you for looking out for Daryl, I can never repay that debt, okay?" Rick says.

They stare at each other until they hear a branch snap nearby.

~~~~~

That night when everybody's going to bed, he and Daryl head to their tent. We lets Daryl unzip it and go inside first before following and doing up the zipper. 

He turns to where Daryl is sitting awkwardly on the makeshift bed, biting his nails. Rick shakes his head fondly before crawling over and placing a kiss on Daryl thumb, he waits until Daryl lowers his hand before slotting their lips together. 

They get to know each other's lips again before Rick runs his tongue along Daryl's bottom lip, asking permission. It takes a moment before Daryl opens up to him.

Just as things start to get heated, Daryl pulls back and looks down to where Rick is kneeling in front of him.

Daryl chews on his thumb again, but Rick waits until Daryl says what he wants to say.

"Can we uh, just... Not? Just tonight?" Daryl asks him without meeting his eyes.

Rick smiles and tilts Daryl's face up to meet him "of course sweetheart" Rick tells him. "But will you let me feel you?" Rick asks.

Daryl nods so Rick reaches for the hem of Daryl's shirt and waits until Daryl raises his arms for him. He pulls off his shirt but makes sure not to stare at his gorgeous husband for too long, Daryl doesn't like that and will get spooked.

Rick peels his own shirt off before undoing both of their belts. He lets Daryl take off his own pants. When they're both down to they're boxers he lets Daryl take the side closest to the window before pressing up behind him.

Daryl likes it when Rick presses his chest against his back. Rick thinks it might be because Daryl feels that Rick is hiding or protecting him from the rest of the world.

Rick wraps his arms around Daryl's waist and tangles their legs together and presses a kiss to the back of Daryl's head. "I love you" he whispers into Daryl's hair. He doesn't get a verbal response but Daryl squeezes the arm that Rick wrapped around him, and that's answer enough. 

He waits until Daryl's breaths have evened out before falling asleep pressed tight against Daryl's warmth.

~~~~~

Before he lines up with the others to say goodbye to Jim, Daryl grabs his hand to get his attention.

Rick turns to him and watches while he just shakes his head, silently telling Rick that he can't say goodbye.

Rick nods, understanding, and squeezes his hand and letting him go, he watches him go and climb into his truck that has his motorcycle.

"Jim, do you want this?" Rick asks when it's his turn. He holds out the gun for Jim to see. "No. You'll need it. I'm okay" Jim tells him.

Just before Rick leaves his puts his hand on Jim's shoulder and leans close, "thank you for helping keep Daryl alive while I couldn't" Rick tells him. He turns around to try and find Daryl again but to his surprise Daryl is standing at the bottom of the hill staring at Jim.

Rick watches as Jim smiles and nods at Daryl.

Before Daryl can get into his truck again Rick wraps him in a hug. Rick makes sure he's okay before going back to his own car with Lori and Carl. He knows Daryl would rather be alone right now anyways.

~~~~~

When the doors open, Rick knows that they still have a chance. He knows that now he has a chance with Daryl. He knows that he and Daryl will make it, along with this group, they have to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was fun to write, I apologize for previous chapters' spelling/grammar errors, I was rushing with them mostly because I didn't expect this many people to read it.
> 
> Thankyou for the comments and kudos


	6. TS-19

"Are we underground?" Carol asks. 

"Are you claustrophobic?" The doctor asks her "a little" she says.

Rick looks beside him to where Daryl is looking around, Rick knows what's wrong; he can't see outside or an exit, so Daryl is getting twitchy. Rick nudges his shoulder to distract him without pulling too much attention to themselves.

~~~~~

Rick enters the shower behind Daryl, when they turn on the water they both smile into each other's mouths. 

They continue to kiss hungrily until Rick pushes Daryl up against the shower wall, he mouths his way down Daryl's jaw to his neck and presses more lazy open mouths kisses there. 

He looks back at Daryl, silently asking if this is ok. When Daryl nods Rick sinks to his knees and takes in the sight of Daryl's flushed face and chest, Rick can't decide if it's because of the wine or their activities.

Rick licks a line up Daryl's thigh until he gets to his cock. He puts his mouth on the tip and sucks, sticking his tongue teasingly into the slit a couple times before taking him all the way down and hollowing out his cheeks.

He looks back up when he feels a hand in his hair. The sight makes him groan around Daryl's cock. Daryl has thrown his head back against the wall, baring his throat and groaning low in his throat.

Rick feels an insistent hand pull at his hair until he starts moving again. He starts bobbing his head, holding Daryl's hips against the wall when he starts to try and thrust deeper into Ricks mouth.

After only a few minutes of teasing and sucking and licking, he feels Daryl grunt once before coming down his throat.

Rick waits a few seconds to let Daryl come back down before standing back up and smiling at his husbands sleepy gaze.

Rick gasps when he feels an experienced hand start to stroke him. He buries his face into Daryl's shoulder as he finally cries out and comes all over Daryl's hand and his stomach.

They kiss lazily for a couple minutes before the cold water becomes too much and they get changed and go to bed curled around each other.

~~~~~

Rick wakes up a couple hours later (drunk) and kisses a sleeping Daryl on the temple before grabbing his bottle and heading to see Jenner.

"I wanted to thank you" Rick tells him. "You did." Jenner says almost questioningly. 

Rick falls to the ground "you all- you all right?" Jenner asks but Rick ignores him and starts talking. 

"You don't know what it's like. You don't know what it's like out there. You may think you do, but you don't. We'd have died out there. It was only a matter of time. There's too many of those things. My- my husband.... I never, I never told 'im what I really thought.... I never even hinted, just- just kept it in. Kept it in and kept us moving, you know. Just kept it in. Kept us...." Rick trails off with thoughts of all the times he's gotten upset with Daryl for keeping it all in.

"It'll all be okay." Jenner tells him. "It'll be okay."

~~~~~

He and Daryl are watching the transformation happening on the screen and Rick looks over at Daryl to make sure he's okay. 

He doesn't see anything worrying so he takes a step closer to Daryl and wraps an arm around his waist again.

Daryl looks at him and then looks around, seemingly okay with what he sees he allows Rick to keep his arm there.

~~~~~

As the doors close on them, reality finally sets in on Rick, he could die, Daryl could die here.

But Rick is determined not to let that happen.

Daryl flips out and Rick can't blame him, Daryl feels like a trapped animal, he can't see the sun and now he's being told he will never see the sun again.

It's all Rick can do to yell to Shane before Daryl can do something he'll regret later on. 

Daryl is pacing and all Rick wants to do is wrap Daryl up in his arms, but deep down he knows that that will only make things worse. So he doesn't. 

When Daryl goes to hit Jenner with the axe, Rick grabs him and pulls him away "shhh shhh shhh. Calm down baby" he whispers into his ear so only Daryl will hear. When he's calm (calmish) Rick lets him go.

"You do want this. Last night you said, you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead." When Jenner says that Rick feels that he might go at him with the axe.

"What?" Daryl asks from behind him. Luckily Shane gets there first before he has to look at Daryl.

"What? You really said that? After all your big talk?" Shane asks. "I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick explains.

"There is no hope. There never was." Jenner says. "There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere-" Rick tells him but Andrea interrupts, "what part of 'everything is gone' do you not understand?"

"Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes up down. This is our extinction event." Jenner tells them and there's silence for a couple moments. 

Jenner keeps talking but Rick isn't listening anymore, he's trying to find a way out, a way to open the door. 

Finally they get Jenner to open the doors and Rick doesn't think he's ever seen Daryl so relieved. 

~~~~~

When the explosion hits Ricks throws himself over Daryl. As they push themselves up they look into each other's blue eyes and laugh before climbing into the truck.

Rick holds his hand out for Daryl to take in the comfort of the truck. He takes it, "ready?" Rick asks. Daryl nods "Ready" he whispers. 

They pull out onto the road, the rest following behind, Rick knows it might be tough but they'll make it. They have to, because they have quite the journey ahead of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was the last chapter of the first part.... I promise the second will be much better. 
> 
>  
> 
> I'm going for surgery tomorrow so that's why I'm posting this tonight. I might not be able to post in the next couple days but you never know.... I'll try my best. 
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for the comments, give me more.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll either post an update every day or every other day, I haven't decided yet. I love feedback, seriously, feedback, give me it.


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